by Adventist Naija | Dec 8, 2022 | world Church
Back to the Altar — Devotional Life and the End-time Message
DAY 8 — WORSHIP AND THE THREE ANGELS’ MESSAGES
“Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water”(Revelation 14:7).
The First and Second Angels’ Messages
As Seventh-day Adventists, we are called to proclaim an end-time message of so much importance that nothing else should divert our attention (Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 8, p. 302). We preach the message of the first angel“flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth” (Revelation 14:6), urging all to fear God, give Him glory, and “worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water” (verse 7). These verses remind us that humanity’s origin is divine, not evolutionary. We possess the “everlasting gospel”—timely and timeless, essential and eternal,
needful and never-ending!
We also share the message of the second angel found in Revelation 14:8: “Babylon is fallen”! This sacred message calls all true followers of God to reject all humanly originated forms of worship and belief not based on God’s Word. It calls us away from randomly assembled beliefs which are not based in Scripture nor supported by the Spirit of Prophecy. Come out of Babylon that you be not partaker of her sins nor of her plagues, the angel of Revelation 18:4 would later command. This sacred message is a call to stand apart in our true worship of God!
The Third Angel’s Message
But, Friends, if the first two messages were powerful, Ellen White says something quite startling about the message of the third angel. Ellen White writes in her Letter 209: “The power of the proclamation of the first and second angels’ messages is to be concentrated in the third”(1899). How so? Because the third angel’s message captures the everlasting gospel of the first message and its call to worship! It embraces the second angel’s call for separation from false worship. But the proclamation of this third message is unlike the first two in that it delivers a fearsome warning: “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his
mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of his indignation” (Revelation 14:9). This message reveals earth’s marked-up beast-worshipers and heaven’s sealed-up God-worshipers!
“Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus” (Revelation 14:12).
Of this message Ellen White further notes, “It is present truth. This message is to go forth with great distinctness and power. It is not
to be clouded by human theories and sophistries” (Letter 20, 1900). As we pray today, let us ask God to empower our worship that
we might powerfully proclaim His end-time message to a perishing world.
Let’s talk to our God
by Adventist Naija | Dec 8, 2022 | world Church
Back to the Altar — Our Most Urgent Need
DAY 7 — A CHURCH THAT WORSHIPS
“Come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker”(Psalm 95:6).
(Un)regular Worship
A 2018 worldwide survey of Seventh-day Adventists found that only 34 percent of Adventist homes are engaging in regular morning and evening worship, and only 52 percent of church members have any personal devotions at all. Can a church with an end-time message centered on worship—the three angels’ messages of Revelation 14:6-12—deliver this solemn message if its members are not faithfully engaged in personal and family worship? In other words, can we proclaim effectively what many of us are not doing daily?
Ellen White comments, “There is nothing more needed in the work [of God] than the practical results of communion with God” (Testimonies for the Church, vol. 6, p. 47). Elsewhere she writes, “Like the patriarchs of old, those who profess to love God should erect an altar to the Lord wherever they pitch their tent. . . . Fathers and mothers should often lift up their hearts to God in humble supplication for themselves and their children. Let the father, as priest of the household, lay upon the altar of God the morning and evening sacrifice, while the wife and children unite in prayer and praise. In such a household Jesus will love to tarry” (Child Guidance, pp. 518, 519)Back to the Altar — Our Most Urgent Need
by Adventist Naija | Dec 7, 2022 | world Church
Back to the Altar — Ending the Day with God
DAY 6 — THE ALL-NIGHT PRAYER WARRIOR
“Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God”(Luke 6:12).
An Example for Us
Jesus was known to spend whole nights in prayer, as He did on the night before selecting a team of 12 disciples who would one day take the gospel to the world (Luke 6:12, 13). You might be inclined to stay awake all night too if you had a world to save with the help of 12 unqualified sinners. The responsibility was so heavy. Here is how Ellen White describes Jesus, the all-night Prayer Warrior:
The Majesty of heaven, while engaged in His earthly ministry, prayed much to His Father. He was frequently bowed all night in prayer. His spirit was often sorrowful as He felt the powers of the darkness of this world, and He left the busy city and the noisy throng, to seek a retired place to make His intercessions. The Mount of Olives was the favorite resort of the Son of God for His devotions. Frequently after the multitude had left Him for the retirement of the night,
He rested not, though weary with the labors of the day. . . . While the city was hushed in silence, and the disciples had returned to their homes to obtain refreshment in sleep, Jesus slept not. His divine pleadings were ascending to His Father from the Mount of Olives that His disciples might be kept from the evil influences which they would daily encounter in the world, and that His own soul might be strengthened and braced for the duties and trials of the coming day. All night, while His followers were sleeping, was their divine Teacher praying. . . . His example is left for His followers. (Homeward Bound, p. 169
by Adventist Naija | Dec 7, 2022 | world Church
Back to the Altar — Early Will I Seek Thee
DAY 5 — JESUS, THE EARLY RISER
“But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him”(John 4:23).
The Altar Truth
There is an “altar truth” in the life of Jesus that no Christian should miss. During the past few days we have reflected much on altars in Scripture and on the lives of those who built them. The altar is a metaphor for a place and time of worship to the true and living God. One need not possess a physical altar in order to worship God. In fact, if a follower of Jesus lives in consistent, earnest, Biblebathed communion with God, he or she has already erected an altar as real as the one that Elijah rebuilt on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18).
We see such an “altar” in the life of Jesus. Amid a busy life of daily ministry, constant threats, and withering assaults from the devil,
Jesus made time for long seasons of prayer and worship. He who was equal with the Father (Philippians2:6) still thought it important
to “be still and know” that God is God (Psalm 46:10). Jesus understood from an early age that His calling required constant
connection with His Father. This was the only way to carry the sins of the world to the cross.
by Adventist Naija | Dec 7, 2022 | world Church
Back to the Altar — Rebuild It and He Will Come — Again!
Title: DAY 4 — WHAT BRINGS GOD BACK
“So all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down”(1 Kings 18:30).
When the Rains Stopped
The atmosphere that fateful day was charged, though an eerie silence had engulfed Mount Carmel. In previous times this wooded mount was lush, green, and beautiful. It received plenty of rainfall and was considered a holy place, a place of blessing and fertility (Ellen G. White, Prophets and Kings, p. 144). But all that had changed. What used to be green was now burnt and bare, the result of a painful, three-and-a-half-year drought (1 Kings 17:1; 18:1; James 5:17). Here’s how Ellen White describes Israel at this time:
The earth is parched as if with fire. The scorching heat of the sun destroys what little vegetation has survived. Streams dry up, and lowing herds and bleating flocks wander hither and thither in distress. Once-flourishing fields have become like burning desert sands, a desolate waste. . . . Once-prosperous cities and villages have become places of mourning.
Hunger and thirst are telling upon man and beast with fearful mortality. Famine, with all its horror, comes closer and still closer. (Prophets and Kings, pp. 124, 125
by Adventist Naija | Nov 18, 2022 | world Church
The Prayer Theme: Back to the Altar: Making a Place for God.
Claiming the Promises
It is our privilege to claim God’s promises in our prayers. All His commandments and counsels are also promises. He would never ask from us something that we could not do in His strength.
It is so easy to focus on our needs, our difficulties, our challenges—and to wail and whine about our situation when we pray.
This is not the purpose of prayer. Prayer is meant to strengthen our faith. That is why we encourage you to claim God’s promises in your prayer time. Take your eyes off yourself and your weaknesses and look to Jesus. By beholding Him, we become changed into His image.
Ellen White offers this encouragement: “Every promise in the Word of God is for us. In your prayers, present the pledged word of Jehovah and by faith claim His promises. His word is the assurance that if you ask in faith, you will receive all spiritual blessings. Continue to ask, and you will receive exceeding abundantly above all that you ask or think” (In Heavenly Places, p. 71).
How can you claim His promises? For instance, when praying for peace, you can claim John 14:27 and say, “Lord, You have told us in Your Word, ‘Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.’ Give me the peace that You promised to leave with us.” Thank the Lord that He is giving you peace, even though you may not feel it right then
2023 Ten Days of Prayer will start on the 11th of January to the 21st of January, 2022.
